Wisdoms to Live By from Chris Gardner

I was homeless, but I wasn't hopeless. I knew a better day was coming.

It’s not just my story. It’s the story of a lot of people who grew up and took a lot of crap – and decided, ‘I'm going the other way.’

Find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Forget about money. Be happy.

The cavalry ain’t coming. You’ve got to do this yourself.

When I look back at the journey from homelessness to prosperity, I hold one thing dearer than all else – my commitment to my son. Doing a movie with the top movie star portraying me, doing a book with an editor who's last book won the Pulitzer Prize – all that stuff is great, but the most important thing that I will have ever done in my life was break the cycle of men who were not there for their children. - Chris Gardner

As busy as I am wherever I am, I try to get out and walk the streets, to remember how far I’ve come and appreciate every baby step of the way.

I can’t think of a better way to honor my mom and lift her up than helping educators. The biggest part of her soul was to teach.

You know how mountains get moved? Everyone who can move a couple, move a couple. Those who can move rocks, move rocks. Those who can move boulders, move boulders. That’s how mountains get moved. If every one of us did everything we could, I believe we would be in a different world.

You have to be committed, and you have to find something that you are passionate about. And forget about money. I’ve learned that money is the least significant aspect of wealth.

I was Chris Gardner, father of a son who deserved better than what my daddy could do for me, son of Betty Jean Gardner who said that if I wanted to win I could win.

Yeah, you can beat me down, you can beat me and you can beat my mom, you can put us out of here with a gun, but I can read, and I'm going places.

I just wanted to make a million dollars. But I couldn't sing and I couldn't play ball, so I said to my mother, ‘How am I going to make a million dollars?’ And she said to me, ‘Son, if you believe you can do it, you will.’

Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you’ll be surprised at where you might get to.